(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to gaming methods and apparatus of the slot machine type, and more particularly to an improved gaming apparatus that incorporates the features of the game of roulette, modified with improved multiple paylines for additional excitement and profit potential.
(2) Background Information
Gambling and games of chance are popular sources of entertainment for many people. Such games of chance are more enjoyable if a variety of different gaming apparatus are available to the player. New forms of gaming apparatus and new methods of playing existing games can generate new interest and enthusiasm in this activity.
One game that has been popular through the years is the game of roulette. In this game, a single rolling ball is propelled around a generally circular track in a direction opposite the rotation of a central wheel. Wagers are placed on the likelihood of the ball landing in a particular pocket or cassette formed around the perimeter of the central wheel.
While roulette has been a gaming apparatus present in casinos for many years, it has been becoming less popular in the recent past. While many reasons have been given for this reduction in popularity, today's gamblers have found conventional roulette to be “boring” and “too predictable” a game.
The inventor herein has modified the game of roulette to expand the game to four simultaneous games of roulette played on a single gaming apparatus. This modified gaming method, designated as “Quad-Roulette” throughout this specification, is the subject of two issued patents, namely, U.S. Pat. No. 6,497,409 entitled “Method for Roulette-Type Games”, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,209,869, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Roulette-Type Games”. The subject matter of both patents is incorporated herein for reference purposes.
There are several reasons why slot machines are an ever-increasing factor relating to a casino's overall financial success. Increased competition in the casino industry has prompted operators and owner to bring more and newer types of slot machines into their establishments at a much higher rate, and much sooner, than they had at any time throughout the history of the slot machine. Also, today's casino players are more sophisticated, and thus demand more challenging game environments, such as games that are connected or related to other casino games. Simply put, there is a high demand for a new generation of gaming equipment with new and unique features.
Historically, slot machines were of the three-window configuration, with three vertically oriented wheels rotating independently of one another behind three horizontally arranged windows. Typically, each wheel included 10 separate symbols, which would then be aligned horizontally within the windows. The consumer would “win” based upon the particular arrangement of symbols in the three windows.
This game was then augmented by providing three horizontal rows of windows, with possible paylines horizontally along any of the three rows, or diagonally. This in turn was augmented with additional windows in each horizontal row, with the most known to the inventor to be three rows of five windows. However, some recent new slot designs which display five or more windows are considered more confusing than fun. This is especially true of those games where a payline is not a straight horizontal, vertical or diagonal line, but rather weaves up and down among the horizontal rows of windows from side to side.
One attempt to overcome this problem is set out in U.S. Pat. No. 6,241,607 to Payne et al., wherein a non-rectangular and/or non-orthogonal arrangement of gambling elements are disclosed. While this patent addresses some of the problems of prior art devices, it is believed that the non-rectangular arrangement of elements detracts from the simplicity of straight line horizontal and vertical paylines with only two diagonal paylines.